Swedish Spitfire

Supermarine S.31 Spitfire, 31040/60 of Flottilj 11, Swedish Flygvapnet, Nykoping, July 1955

This is the second part of a 2 part effort to clear my shelves of the MPM PR XIX kits I have. The first part was the interim and unpressurized PR XIX (Type 389) delivered in mid-‘44. This is one the standard pressurized PR XIX (Type 390) sold to Sweden post-war.

The Subject

This is one of the 203 pressurized PR XIX (Type 390) delivered from late Summer 1944. Post war the RAF did not need so many PR Spitfires and began selling them off to foreign air forces, replacing them with jet aircraft.

“Spitfire The History” lists 31040 as originally procured as PM499. This was part of an original contract order for the Mk VIII, which was modified for PR XI and PR XIX. There is no history listed for PM499 with the RAF, one web source indicates all the Swedish Spitfires were from Maintenance Unit stocks, having never been assigned to fighting units.

Sweden attempted to procure Spitfires during the war, and ultimately received 50 of the PR XIX version. These were designated S.31 for Spaningsflygplan (Reconnaissance Aircraft). They were operated from 1948 – 1955.

The Model

I’m going to repeat myself here, this is the MPM limited run kit. It comes with photo etch for the landing gear bay and a very crude (okay, none really) cockpit. If installed per the instructions, the floor would be about where the pilot’s waist should be…I cannibalized the cockpits from Academy XIV kits, given the shape of the Academy offerings are too far off to be worth it, and I can pick them up for less than the price of a resin cockpit set. Bonus for the price you also get a much better prop, wheels, landing gear and horizontal stabs. All of which I used on both of these MPM PR XIX kits.

I used decals from the Airfix PR XIX kit. The MPM decals had a much lighter yellow that just did not look right. I’ve found photos online that seem to indicate this aircraft may have had a yellow spinner, but at some point also a red spinner. I chose red because it was a nice contrast.

Summary

As mentioned on the other build, this is accurate in shape but requires a bit of work to look nice. You need to add some details either from resin or using the Academy F.XIV kit which would be the cheaper option and likely make it worth the effort to build this one.

Thanks for looking…